The grandest Andrew Carnegie libraries around the world

More than 2,500 libraries were built around the world at the turn of the 20th Century thanks to generosity of Scottish philanthropist and industrialist Andrew Carnegie, with many to become grand architectural expressions of the power of learning.

Here were look at some of the most stunning libraries built in Carnegie’s name after he invested the equivalent of £45m in his belief that education was the key driver of personal success.

The Carnegie Library of Washington DC. PIC Wikicommons.

Leuven University Library, Belgium

Leuven was one of three cities to receive funding from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to rebuild libraries following World War One, with Reims and Belgrade also to benefit.

American architect Whitney Warren built Leuven in a Flemish Renaissance style although his building was severely damaged by fire during World War Two with nearly one million books lost. It has since been restored.

The library has a carillon of 63 bells in its tower and holds more than 3 million volumes.

Central Library, Springfield, Massachusetts. PIC Wikicommons.

Built in a medieval style, Braddock was the first Carnegie library in the United States and opened in 1889.

It quickly doubled in size given its popularity. It wasn’t just books on offer - a billiards table, a music hall, a gym and a swimming pool could all be enjoyed by the public.

The Carnegie library at Braddock, Pennsylvania

A bathhouse in the basement was built in the basement so that mill workers could clean up at the end of their shift. The washing facilities have long gone, but the tiled walls and floors can still be seen.

Central Library, Dunfermline

Around 7,000 people gathered to welcome Andrew Carnegie and his mother to the opening of the philanthropist’s first public library in the world, in his home town of Dunfermline, in 1883.

Such was the interest in the occasion that a half-day holiday was declared for local businesses and factories.

Edinburgh Central Library on George IV Bridge. PIC: TSPL

The library, one of 26 public projects funded by Carnegie in the town, was described as “domestic Tudor” by a reporter on duty that day with the three-story building not short of impressive details.

A Gothic-style entrance gave way to separate male and female reading rooms with the library on the upper floor. A smoking room, fitted with oriel windows, could be found on the third with Chateau-style turrets appearing from the roof.

A rising sun motif is engraved above the library’s main entrance with the words “Let there be Light”.